Hundreds of people have protested in southern Syria to urge President Bashar al-Assad to step down, capping nearly two weeks of demonstrations that had erupted over poor living conditions but have spiralled into renewed calls for political change.
“Bashar out! Syria free!” shouted a large crowd on Friday in the city of Sweida, according to the Reuters news agency.
Syria is in a deep economic crisis that has seen its currency plunge to a record low of 15,500 Syrian pounds to the dollar last month in a rapidly accelerating free fall. It had traded at 47 pounds to the dollar at the start of Syria’s war 12 years ago.
The protests were initially driven by surging inflation and the war-torn country’s worsening economy but have quickly shifted focus with marchers calling for the fall of al-Assad’s government.
Centred in the government-controlled province of Sweida, the heartland of Syria’s Druze, a religious minority that had largely stayed neutral in the conflict between al-Assad and the Syrian opposition, the protests are unusual.
Open criticism of the government had remained rare in government-controlled areas, but as the economic situation has grown worse, the discontent has gone public.
Syria is in a deep economic crisis (don’t mention sanction don’t mention sanction don’t mention sanctions)
war-torn country’s (don’t mention American
occupation and Israeli periodic bombing)Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/YgiyWGyJcIc
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
I’m Syrian, AMA
Protesting about Bashar al-Assad hasn’t worked before, I wonder if this will be different.
Southern Syria was notorious for hardcore supporting Al-Assad. Southern Syria is primarily populated by Druze, which is a religious minority.
This is a significant turn of events, where they finally decided to protest in large numbers like never before.
@cyclohexane thank you for sharing this insight. That is interesting. A big tree can grow from a small seed.
I have heard of the Druze but I did not know much about them. Is the reason they supported Al-Assad because they fear a Sunni majority leadership?
Nearly every religious minority in Syria supported Al-Assad in the beginning. They felt that he did well protecting minorities. They didn’t fear just any sunni leadership, but one that wouldn’t be kind to minorities (and unfortunately some sunni groups made their dislike of religious minorities clear, which enhanced this fear).
The fear of extremist groups taking power has largely subsided nowadays. I think this encouraged the Druze to protest the suffocating conditions in Syria, without fearing that it would lead to extremists taking over.
Ah, I see!
Syria seems like a country where you should be extra careful when protesting
Not as much as before. Protests have become much more normalized
We’ve had one apocalyptic, genocidal civil war, yes, but what about second apocalyptic, genocidal civil war?
